It comes as no shock to Jim Ervin that the in-form striker in the league right now is Joe Gormley, despite being written off in the past.
The Ballymena manager takes his team to Solitude today to play the Irish Cup finalists in the Sports Direct Premiership.
The 35-year-old scored the winning goal in extra time of the League Cup Final against Glentoran, scored against Ards in the Irish Cup semi-finals last weekend and scored again in Cliftonville’s 3-1 win over Carrick on Tuesday night.
The Ardoyne man didn’t always play under Paddy McLaughlin and was down the pecking order last year behind Ronan Hale and Ben Wilson.
When they left along with Sam Ashford, Jim Magilton turned to the evergreen prowler in the box and Gormley has delivered in spades, scoring twenty goals to date this term.
Ervin played against Gormley many times before he became a manager at The Showgrounds and applauds his current good form.
“Am I surprised? No, I’m not”, said Ervin. “I’m surprised that people have doubted him, to be honest.
“He’s been questioned, not just this season but last season as well, but he always answers with performances on the pitch and he always scores goals.
“People can maybe question other aspects, does he have the legs, you get that the older you get in football.
“I guess it’s an easy thing to say, that going by age you can’t get about the pitch as much, but he knows where the back of the net is.
“That’s one thing that will never, ever change for Joe Gormley. You HAVE to pay him close attention, because if you give him any sort of space or time in the box he will punish you.
“So I’m not surprised he has scored the number of goals he has scored, I’m not surprised he keeps delivering.
“Until the day Joe retires he’ll still score you goals, no matter what level of football he’s playing at.
“He is an incredible footballer and he’s really quiet too. He maybe doesn’t get the credit he deserves because he’s just a quiet person.
“I have so much respect for him as a player but also as a person.
“I’m pleased for him that he’s got the amount of goals that he’s got for the fact of how often he is questioned.”
Ervin, who signed a full-time contract extension until 2028, does not expect the Reds to play within themselves today bearing in mind the final against Dungannon Swifts is in four week’s time.
“Ultimately as a player you want to play in every game.
“What you don’t want is for the manager to give someone else an opportunity to play in your position leading up to a final.
“If they have a really good game the manager has something to think about.
“These guys have got cup final places to play for and they’ll be going all out to not give Jim and Skin any excuse to leave them out.
“We know we are going to be in for a hell of a battle today against Cliftonville, it’s one the players are prepared for and they’ll be well-briefed on what to expect.”